Sandy police investigate possible attempted kidnapping

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Police in Sandy are investigating what may be an attempted kidnapping. A 5-year-old girl says a man asked her twice to get into his car.

Police say the girl's story is credible. They're praising her, saying she did the right thing. The girl's father, Brandon Bullock, said, "This is my daughter, and she did everything she was supposed to do."

Sandy police investigate possible attempted kidnapping

He says lessons about stranger danger paid off. "She knows a lot about stranger danger," he said.

On Sunday afternoon, his daughter Hailey was riding her bike outside her home near 11300 S. and 250 East when a man in a black car approached her.

She told us what he said: "That I don't care about your family and come with me." Brandon added, "And she told him she needed to go get her daddy. She came straight home."

Hailey said, "I never talked to that guy before."

Police believe the girl's story because an officer, who happened to be in the area on an unrelated call, saw the same car.

Sgt. Victor Quezada of the Sandy Police Department said, "So he's looking at this car because it's an older car, very well kept, and that's what caught his eye."

At the time, the officer didn't know what had happened. Bullock went outside and saw the officer. The two exchanged descriptions, when Bullock told the officer his daughter's story. "It made me mad," he said. "It infuriated me."

Police don't know the intentions of the man in the black car but say it looks suspicious.

Sgt. Quezada said, "We want to talk to him and find out why he's talking to a 5-year-old girl, saying ‘Get in my car.' Normal people don't do that."

Neighbors say it's unnerving because there are a lot of young children in the neighborhood.

Destiny Gruel said, "If somebody was to offer them candy or something like that, they may get in, and that's really scary."

Jordan Sapp said, "This trailer park is chalk full of kids, but on one's ever had to worry about something like that."

Police say the man is in his 50s and has gray hair. He was driving a black, ‘80s model Oldsmobile with thin gold pin striping along the doors and wheel wells.

E-mail: syi@ksl.com